Hate Crime

An intense manhunt was underway Thursday for a young white man who joined a prayer meeting and then opened fire inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston, killing nine people, including the pastor. Authorities called it a hate crime.

An Eagan family found their car vandalized yesterday morning, and covered with racial slurs. Police say someone smashed out a window in Steve Wright’s car; spray-painted racial slurs on the hood, trunk and windows; and then doused the car with gasoline.

The man accused of fatally hitting a teenager with his car last week in Missouri had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, committed to a Minneapolis hospital for treatment and sometimes stopped taking his medications, according to court records and his family in Minnesota.

The attorney for the family of a 2-year-old boy who was slapped by a stranger on a Delta flight said it’s too early to decide if they will file a lawsuit, but the fact the man lost his job isn’t enough.

Police are trying to figure out who’s responsible for busting a car window with a golf ball covered in hate speech. About 150 people were inside Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church in St. Paul Saturday afternoon.